The Image of the Antique History in the Macedonian Historiography

The article presents Macedonian historiography of the last decade of the 20th century, when the attention of researchers focused on ancient times and the period of rule of Alexander the Great. A short introduction to the topic also shows the condition of historical literary output about Macedonian history, when the Macedonian Republic belonged to the Yugoslavian Federation. At that time the Macedonian history was part of the history of Yugoslavia and historical syntheses were mainly written by authors from outside of Macedonia. In few comprehensive historical works of that period the history of ancient Macedonia was described as separate from its Slavonic history, however, attention was paid to its role in the process of awaking of Macedonian national consciousness in the 19th century. The majority of historical works of Macedonian historians from the period of affiliation to the Yugoslavian State more often focused on selected periods of Macedonian history - the fight for national independence, the Ilinden uprising or the Second World War. In the last decade of the 20th century Macedonian historians turned their attention, first of all to the ancient period of the Macedonian territory, particularly to the period of rule of Filip the Second and his son Alexander the Great. At that time two trends appeared in the approach to ancient times: the first one, which seems to be predominating, treats the ancient history of the Macedonian area as linked with the history of modern Macedonia; the second one presents the Greek official position regarding the Macedonian independence since 1999, as well as the conviction that it is not possible to write about the history of Macedonia in separation from its ancient history, thus substantiating its belonging to the Greek-Roman civilization.